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Trivia: Musical Terms

Subject : trivia
Instructions:
  • Answer 50 questions in 15 minutes.
  • If you are not ready to take this test, you can study here.
  • Match each statement with the correct term.
  • Don't refresh. All questions and answers are randomly picked and ordered every time you load a test.

This is a study tool. The 3 wrong answers for each question are randomly chosen from answers to other questions. So, you might find at times the answers obvious, but you will see it re-enforces your understanding as you take the test each time.
1. A 19th century square dance written for 4 couples.






2. A quick - improvisational - spirited piece of music.






3. A song or hymn celebrating Christmas.






4. A short light musical drama.






5. The raising and lowering a pitch of an instrument to produce the correct tone of a note.






6. A composition whose style is simple and idyllic; suggestive of rural scenes.






7. A period in history during the 18th and early 19th centuries where the focus shifted from the neoclassical style to an emotional - expressive - and imaginative style.






8. A symbol in sheet music a direction to play energetically.






9. A line in a contrapuntal work performed by an individual voice or instrument.






10. Unmusical - without tone.






11. Music written to be sung or played in unison.






12. Sliding between two notes.






13. A musical scale having five notes.For example: the five black keys of a keyboard make up a pentatonic scale.






14. System of notes or tones based on and named after the key note.






15. Primary theme or subject that is developed.






16. To hold a tone or rest held beyond the written value at the discretion of the performer.






17. A short piece originally preceded by a more substantial work - also an orchestral introduction to opera - however not lengthy enough to be considered an overture.






18. Time signature with three beats to the measure.






19. A composition written for a solo instrument. The soloist plays the melody while the orchestra plays the accompaniment.






20. Rapid alternation between notes that are a half tone or whole tone apart.






21. Originally an improvised cadence by a soloist. Later it became a written out passage to display performance skills of an instrumentalist or performer.






22. Male singers who were castrated to preserve their alto and soprano vocal range.






23. Quick repetition of the same note or the rapid alternation between two notes.






24. Harsh - discordant - and lack of harmony. Also a chord that sounds incomplete until it resolves itself on a harmonious chord.






25. A quick 20th century dance written in double time.






26. A tempo having slow movement; restful at ease.






27. A hymn sung by the choir and congregation often in unison.






28. A melodic or - sometimes a harmonic idea presented in a musical form.






29. A composition written for a solo instrument. The soloist plays the melody while the orchestra plays the accompaniment.






30. A symbol in sheet music a direction to play energetically.






31. Groups of tones that are harmonious when sounded together as in a chord.






32. A combination of two or more staves on which all the notes are vertically aligned and performed simultaneously in differing registers and instruments.






33. Often used in overtures - a composition that uses passages from other movements of the composition in its entirety.






34. A person with notable technical skill in the performance of music.






35. An extended solo - often accompanying the vocal part of an aria.






36. A single line of music played or sung. A musical sentence.






37. A short or brief sonata.






38. Music composed such that each note is used the same number of times.






39. An instrumental lament with praise for the dead.






40. Pertains to tone or tones.






41. A set of five musicians who perform a composition written for five parts.






42. Where the musical themes and melodies are developed - written in sonata form.






43. A symbol used in musical notation indicating to gradually quicken tempo.






44. A set of five musicians who perform a composition written for five parts.






45. An important characteristic of the Romantic period. It is a style where the strict tempo is temporarily abandoned for a more emotional tone.






46. Sliding between two notes.






47. Lowest female singing voice.






48. A canon where the melody is sung in two or more voices. After the first voice begins - the next voice starts singing after a couple of measures are played in the preceding voice. All parts repeat continuously.






49. A composition written for eight instruments.






50. A lighthearted piece - written in several movements - usually as background music for a social function.